STEPHEN Hendrie is keen to make up for lost time at Southend United.

The 23-year-old left-back has struggled to nail down a regular starting slot with the Shrimpers since signing in the summer of 2017.

But the Scotsman has now started four of Blues’ last six matches and, with Ben Coker injured, Hendrie is keen to make the most of the increased opportunities likely to come his way.

“I want to look forward not back and do enough to stay in the team and help us get good results,” said Hendrie.

“I don’t look back at things because you can’t change anything so I just look forward to the next game. I just wish I hadn’t got a chance this way because it was horrible to see Ben get injured like that. I would like to wish him a speedy recovery.”

Hendrie made just eight League starts for the Shrimpers last season and ended the campaign on loan at Motherwell where he also found it hard to stay in the side.

However, Hendrie has been called upon by Blues boss Chris Powell far more frequently this season and started Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Barnsley where Hendrie felt Blues were hard done by.

“I thought everyone worked really hard and were great,” said Hendrie.

“We’re missing some really key players but everyone did well and I think a draw would have been a fair result. Unfortunately we conceded right at the end which was tough to take but our performance was good, especially as we were away from home against one of the best teams in the League.”

Blues will now be bidding to bounce back when they host Crawley Town in the first round of the FA Cup on Saturday. And Hendrie would love a cup run with the Shrimpers this season.

“Everyone knows how exciting cup runs can be so of course we all want one,” said the defender.

“I don’t know too much about Crawley but we’ll focus on ourselves.”

And Hendrie will also head into the game with words of wisdom from Powell.

“It’s great having a former left-back as manager for me,” said Hendrie.

“He knows the position and helps me.”